Is it ever possible for a single person on a lowish income to get a mortgage?

misscomickat

I'm 25, and ideally, I would like to have a mortgage on a small house or flat by the time I'm 30. I've been renting since I was 17 now and I am tired of it.

I would like to get my own place and be independent.

Some of my friends have bought, but they are ones who lived at home and had few outgoings so saved a lot of their income, or they have bought with their partner. Neither of those are options for me.

I'm about to go abroad for 4 months, but when I come back and get a new job, I'd like to keep my outgoings as low as possible (may even go back to house-sharing, not a prospect I am happy about) so I can start a high interest savings account (maybe an ISA?) to use as a deposit. I don't have any debts, other than a student loan.

But will it ever be possible for me to buy somewhere on my own? The thought depresses me if I think about it too much but I want to come up with some sort of action plan.

I looked at part buy, part rent schemes, and they just seemed to be a rip off.

Thanks for any advice.

lynnexxxo

Listening to avdice from some quarters suggests house prices are going to plumment.

However I'd be more inclined to do some research into further training in order to try and secure a better paid job.

Or a rich husband

pollyanna24

It's hard these days when everyone seems to think that you need to own a property to be "someone," but it's not the be all and end all.

Easy for me to say, you might think, as I am on the property with no intention of getting off anytime soon.

You say you are 25 and wish to have a house before you are 30 and is this possible. Probably, who knows? You say you are going to cut down your outgoings so that you can save for a deposit, but why haven't you already been doing this? The 25 year olds who complain about not being able to afford to buy have probably spend the last 7 years drinking their wages or travelling (something else I see you are planning on doing).

I don't mean to sound like I'm having a go, and I did have the luck of meeting my bf when I was 17 and therefore we bought as a couple, but we started saving asap for our house which we bought when we were 21. Easy because this was years ago? No, it was 2003! And it was a weeny house in a bad area.

Travelling? Yeah, it's a nice idea, but shelved until I'm old and grey cos we decided that buying a house was our priority. I'm not saying I'm right and you're wrong, I'm just saying that you can't have everything.

Just work hard at saving a deposit, I suppose that's all you can do by now. You might meet someone before you're 30 and they might already own somewhere or you might be in a position to buy by then because of the market falling, you winning the lottery etc.

netty_betty_2

i feel so sorry for young people today,it is so difficult to get on the first rung of the property ladder,when i bought my first house 20 years ago i paid £16,000 for a 2 up 2 down, now you would be talking £80,000 plus for the same type of property,if you can save up a good deposit this would help, maybe live with parents for as long as possible whilst saving for a deposit

going2die_rich

lynnexxxo wrote: »

Listening to avdice from some quarters suggests house prices are going to plumment.

However I'd be more inclined to do some research into further training in order to try and secure a better paid job.

Or a rich husband

If house prices plummet, the last person a Bank is going to lend moeny to is a first time buyer on a low income with no/little deposit. If house prices drop too lower the banks will have loads of bad debt which means they only lend money to those they believe are the least risk... i.e. those with big deposits, and/or big earners.

JCD_Capulet

pollyanna24 wrote: »

The 25 year olds who complain about not being able to afford to buy have probably spend the last 7 years drinking their wages or travelling (something else I see you are planning on doing).
.

That's a bit hash. I'm 26, have a histoy of mental health issues which have left me with a poor work history (thus issues trying to secure work), Have worked since I was 16 and payed full rent and tax for my mums house untill I was 18 (no money to lay aside for savings). I've worked minimum wage jobs to pay my own bills and was stung by my ex fiance who left me with a poor credit rating and no chance of getting a mortgage or even a loan.

I wish I had the time and money to live like the 25 year olds you described, pollyanna.

Dick_here

I don't think anyone has answered the basic question though. For a single person - or a couple - on under say 20k a year, how can you get a mortgage large enough to buy any property ? In the South-East, it's probably 30k+. Answer - I guess - you can't.

JCD_Capulet

With enough savings and a reasonable wage, a single person in my area could easily afford a home of their own. There are always lots of ex council proberties being sold and folk moving into new builds (the area is regenerating). When I was 18, if I didn't have the financial commitments that I had, I could have had myself a mortgage for 14k on a semi detached in this area. The house needed modernising, but still.

pollyanna24

JCD_Capulet wrote: »

That's a bit hash. I'm 26, have a histoy of mental health issues which have left me with a poor work history (thus issues trying to secure work), Have worked since I was 16 and payed full rent and tax for my mums house untill I was 18 (no money to lay aside for savings). I've worked minimum wage jobs to pay my own bills and was stung by my ex fiance who left me with a poor credit rating and no chance of getting a mortgage or even a loan.

I wish I had the time and money to live like the 25 year olds you described, pollyanna.

I'm sorry to hear that you have mental health issues and have had to have low paid jobs.

It's unfortunate (yes, probably easy for me to say), but not everyone can own their own house. There will always be "I had this, so haven't had a job," "I had a bad childhood, so can't afford...," etc etc. But maybe these people have to accept that they are not going to be millionaires or own their own house.

I'm spending ages trying to phrase this, but no doubt I will get backlash from it, but I see myself as an ordinary person living too close to London (i.e. high prices) with an ordinary secretary's wage, but I managed it. My parents have no money, so they haven't been able to help me financially.

misscomickat

I'm not going travelling, I'm going abroad to work full time! But thanks for the assumption! I don't drink much either, don't drive, don't smoke and am very careful with my money.

The reason I haven't started saving yet is because I graduated in 2005, was working in quite a low paid job (a trainee journalist position), renting privately, and paying off my student overdraft.

Rich__101

pollyanna24 wrote: »

The 25 year olds who complain about not being able to afford to buy have probably spend the last 7 years drinking their wages or travelling (something else I see you are planning on doing).

That's a bit harsh most of the 25 year olds I know or knew went to university (contrary to popular belief worked hard and only went out once per week at most). Those that did not have parental help even the ones with part time jobs left with at least £5000-£10000 of debt.

I'd say a lot of people in their mid 20's have done nothing but work hard all their lives getting educated and working their way into a job where they can only just begin to afford to save for a deposit.

To the OP i'd suggest saving all that you can like you are doing and just waiting to see what happens both in your personal life and in the general economic situation. Unfortunatly there really is little more you can do that actually makes sense.